Congress may give clarity on seat sharing in next 48 hours

The fate of aspirants for Congress tickets will be decided in the next 48 hours, with the party’s central screening committee chaired by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi set to meet on November 7 in Delhi.The high command has directed state Congress leaders to complete the seats adjustment talks with the Mahakutami partners by Tuesday. The high command has directed the TPCC to be liberal with the allies.

Mahakutami constituents Telugu Desam, the CPI and the TJS are mounting pressure on the Congress for more seats. The Congress may finally contest about 90 seats out of the 119 in the state Assembly.

Two days ago, TPCC chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy had announced at Delhi that the Congress would contest 95 Assembly seats and the TD had agreed to 14 as its share. The party had planned to divide the 10 remaining seats between the TJS and the CPI.

The TD is now asking for two more seats, TJS wants at least 13 and the CPI five seats. Besides, the Congress also wants to change some of the seats allotted to the TD. For instance, the Congress had decided to give Telugu Desam the Kodada seat, represented by the party’s sitting legislator Padmavathi, the wife of TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy. Now it wants to retain Kodada.The CPI has announced that if a decision on seats is further delayed, it would announce its candidates for nine seats in two or three days. The Congress has sent a communication to the party asking it not to take any hard decision. 

Mahakutami leaders met at an unidentified location till late in the night on Monday to discuss seat sharing. The Congress plans to announce the list by November 9.TPCC election committee leaders headed by Mr Reddy will leave for Delhi on Tuesday. The AICC screening committee headed by Mr Bhakta Charan Das is holding a meeting in Delhi to complete the exercise on selection of party candidates.